Month: March 2017

A man fell into a 10 meter deep hole while exploring a cave in Kaohsiung Saturday, and was rescued on Sunday, after someone noticed his backpack, and heard his cries for help. Mr Tu (涂), 58, lost his grip on a rope and fractured his femur while exploring a cave in Gushan District. Unable to move, he spent the night in severe pain at the bottom of the cave. At around 10:00am, someone noticed an abandoned backpack in the cave,

A technical problem at a power station this morning caused one of its three chimneys to emit a pall of thick, black smoke containing sooty ash, which fell on the surrounding district. At around 11:00am, residents around the Hsieh Ho Power Station in Keelung City noticed a thick black cloud of smoke coming out of one of the power station’s chimneys. Black soot rained on cars and blackened people’s clothing. A broadcast from the power station’s office warned residents to

Taiwan rapper Doggie G (aka Dwagie), was disappointed to find his American visa canceled shortly before he was due to perform at a music festival in Texas. After an interview yesterday at the USA’s defacto embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan, Tseng Kuan-jung (曾冠榕) said he will definitely miss his favorite Texan music festival this year. The popular Taiwanese rapper held a visa valid until September 2017, but it was suddenly canceled without warning. AIT officials today told him they

[Cover picture: Liberty Times Network] Firefighters at Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant (3rd Nuclear) (馬鞍山核能發電廠 or 核三) in Pingtung County, Taiwan have threatened to strike after two months in three of unpaid wages. Local residents expressed concern about safety at the nuclear power plant after the 45 first responders to any emergency incident at the plant were left unpaid for December and February. Liberty Times Network

A group of 40 expert anglers will gather at Lotus Pond (蓮池潭) in Kaohsiung City this Sunday, March 19, to compete in a lure fishing contest targeting invasive predatory species including the giant snakehead. Kaohsiung City Council members Chen Mei-juan (陳玫娟) and Qiu Jun-xian (邱俊憲) told reporters that exotic species had become a serious problem in the lake, requiring a considerable expenditure of manpower and resources. Invasive species include jaguar fish (Cichlasoma managuense), Amazon Peacock Bass (Cichla ocellaris), red devil

[Picture: United Daily News.] EPA director Lee Ying-yuan today led a press conference calling for a cultural change in toilet habits. Mr Lee called on people to flush their used toilet paper, rather than placing it in a bin. The call comes after a 3 month consultation period that involved paper manufacturers and toilet equipment manufacturers. See previous article: EPA Major Policy Shift: Toilet Paper to be Flushed. The EPA called on the public to help design a logo that

At least 8 kilometers of coastline on Green Island in Taitung County has been contaminated by heavy oil, according to reports verified by coast guard officials stationed on the island. Liberty Times Network reported that reports of the oil spill began around 7:00pm March 10. Taitung Environmental Protection Bureau sent a team to investigate the oil spill. Saturday morning March 11, investigators found that around 10 kilometers, or around one-third of the island’s coastline had been contaminated by heavy oil.

[Picture: Liberty Times Network] Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Ying today requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare help establish a project group to make a record of Maori medicinal herbs. Chen said there should be more exchanges on health with the New Zealand indigenous people. Chen told the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee that the ancestors of the Maori people had migrated to New Zealand more than 700 years ago from a place called Waikiki, and that Waikiki

Search and Rescue workers are searching for a fellow team member who slipped and fell into a stream on the morning of the fifth day searching for a firefighter who went missing while hiking in Hualien County. Cold, wet weather, and heavy mist, along with precipitous terrain has hampered search parties, who began searching for Li Yin-xun (李盈勳) on March 3. Li went missing March 1, and was reported missing the following day. This morning, Wednesday, March 8, Sun Hong-xin

[Picture: Liberty Times Network] A group of activists in the port city of Keelung created some provocative street art in the early hours of the morning to commemorate a massacre of civilians by Chinese Nationalist troops March 8, 1947. Early morning commuters were confronted by streets and sidewalks around Keelung Station splattered with red paint. Transparent plastic silhouettes laid on the ground represented victims of what some books describe as ‘indiscriminate killing’. Authorities were seen before dawn hurrying to clean

Soldiers from Army Aviation and Special Forces Command joined the search for Taipei firefighter Li Ying-xun (李盈勳) this morning as the search entered its fourth day. Li went missing while hiking with 2 Taipei City Fire Department colleagues in a remote mountain district in Hualien County March 1. The hikers had set out on February 28 and camped at an altitude of 580 meters. On the second day the group made camp at 1050m. At around 4:00pm Li went to